Month: October 2012

Snitching: This is how it works. This is a classic case of how cops twist people into doing their will. Naive young kid in trouble with the law. Scared. He’s maybe not the brightest bulb (though he may think he is). Cops “befriend” him and magically make his “crime” go away. Cops pay him — quite a lot for a part-time job for a kid. He’s so eager to “earn” the money and please his handlers that he persuades himself that he’s a “hero.” SO eager to please that he starts twisting and exaggerating the “evidence.” Classic. Absolutely. Except that…

Risk assessment I’m not a methodical person. My own best decisions have always been made by gut, and my best actions taken on “informed instinct.” Of course, not everyone works that way. And when facing a bewildering variety of unknowns, even “gut” people need tools to help them sort through the alternatives. Fortunately, some blog readers are experienced professionals in fields like security and emergency management. Today, I’m turning the blog over to one of those, MJR. Here’s his take on how to assess risks and decide which ones we should act on. —– MJR writes: One of the little…

This one’s sort of a rant. Don’t be a Flutterbudget. In L. Frank Baum’s novel, The Emerald City of Oz, Dorothy Gale and some of her friends are touring the hinterlands of Oz. They visit various villages whose inhabitants are distinctive, to say the least. As they approach one community, a woman rushes at them, screaming in panic, “Save my baby! Please, please save my baby!” Since the party can see that the baby is safely tucked into Mother’s arms, they’re befuddled. When they point out that her child seems to be just fine, the distraught woman cries (I’m going…

There was some cheering on the Intertubz when the TSA announced it was removing those infamous Rape-o-scanners from airports. Okay, muted cheering. Very. Muted. Cheering. Europe banned the Rape-o-Scans earlier this year and this was just the TSA’s belated acknowledgement of what everybody else already knew: that the x-ray scanners are potentially dangerous, ludicrously prone to false alerts, and offensive as all get out. Um, well, not exactly. They say it’s solely because the machines were slowing up their probing, poking, and stealing. So, did they send them back to Rapiscan and demand a refund? Is anybody investigating Michael Chertoff’s…

The “Preparedness Priorities” series will resume before Monday (already have two more in the works). But I’d like your opinion on something else, please. ADDED: Wow. Got some really good reader submissions! So I’ve removed the original two covers and my own first revision (since all have been thoroughly trounced by the Commentariat). I think the mockup by Keith Perkins and the sketch by Travis (below) are better than the best I did. The anti-snitch book is roaring along, thanks to Anonymous Layout Guy’s speedy work. These are the two potential cover designs (one inspired by a photo MJR sent,…

The Rule of Threes and why your rules might be different. I’ll apologize in advance to regular readers. For a lot of people what follows is way too basic. I had more specifics in this post, but that meant it became too long and rambling. So I took them out to use later. —- Everybody has heard the “Rule of Threes,” though somehow nobody says it quite the same: You can live three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (in extreme conditions), three days without water, and three weeks without food. Nice meme. And it’s one that lots and…

We should just forget about TSHTF. Just plain forget about it. Yesterday I mentioned survival gurus who make our heads spin with elaborate, daunting, expensive advice. Newbies — and too many non-newbies — read this stuff and simply freeze: “If preparedness is that hard, I can’t do it!” But the head spinning isn’t all the gurus’ doing. Watch: Any discussion of preparedness among ordinary, aware people is likely to leap rapidly to this assumption (I exaggerate only slightly): “The S hits the F. The zombies attack. If you don’t have your own private Maginot Line, you die. If you survive…

Recently, one of the big preparedness gurus suggested that his readers plan to re-roof their houses with metal to make it safer to collect rain runoff. He didn’t say we should consider it if our house needs a new roof, anyhow. He didn’t say we should consider it if we have all our other preps in order and have $10-20,000 burning a hole in our pockets. He just said it. Not only did he say it; he said it in an article directed at preparedness for newbies! —– I recently read a book by a survival consultant. It was filled…

Front Sight certificates!

I’m not soliciting donations right now.

I'll be having a big fundraiser sometime in 2018. THEN I'll solicit donations like mad for a few weeks.

But a friend asked for these donation options. And should you just happen to be one of those wild-n-crazy generous people, far be it from me to discourage your wild-n-craziness.

First, you can PayPal.me That link lets you donate without me paying any fees. If you pay from your own PayPal balance or linked bank account, you won't pay any fees either. There's a small fee for paying via credit card. You DON'T have to have a PayPal account to use my PayPal.me link, but you will need to allow JavaScript if you surf with scripts turned off.

Then, a way to donate Bitcoin.

1ESNG1NxLQH6AGQJKMgYYuxNLJjoLRaQwX

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